"If you please, ma'am, the cook says as the meat hasn't come for lunch,
and what is she to do?"
"Without," replied Mrs. Temperley automatically.
The maid waited for more discreet directions. She had given a month's
notice that very morning, because she found Craddock Dene too dull.
"Thank goodness, that barbarian is going!" Hubert had exclaimed.
"We shall but exchange a Goth for a Vandal," his wife replied.
Mrs. Temperley gazed intently at her maid, the light of intelligence
gradually dawning in her countenance. "Is there anything else in the
house, Sapph--Sophia?"
"No, ma'am," replied Sophia.
"Oh, tell the cook to make it into a fricassee, and be sure it is well
flavoured." The maid hesitated, but seeing from the wandering expression
of her employer's eye that her intellect was again clouded over, she
retired to give the message to the cook--with comments.
The library at the Red House was the only room that had been radically
altered since the days of the former tenants, whose taste had leant
towards the florid rather than the classic. The general effect had been
toned down, but it was impossible to disguise the leading motive; or
what Mrs. Temperley passionately described as its brutal vulgarity. The
library alone had been subjected to _peine forte et dure_. Mrs.
Temperley said that it had been purified by suffering. By dint of
tearing down and dragging out offending objects ("such a pity!" cried
the neighbours) its prosperous and complacent absurdity had been
humbled. Mrs. Temperley retired to this refuge after her encounter with
Sophia. That perennially aggrieved young person entered almost
immediately afterwards and announced a visitor, with an air that
implied--"She'll stay to lunch; see if she don't, and what'll you do
then? Yah!"
The pronunciation of the visitor's name was such, that, for the moment,
Mrs. Temperley did not recognize it as that of Miss Valeria Du Prel.
She jumped up joyfully. "Ah, Valeria, this _is_ delightful!"
The visit was explained after a characteristic fashion. Miss Du Prel
realized that over two years had passed since she had seen Hadria, and
moreover she had been seized with an overwhelming longing for a sight of
country fields and a whiff of country air, so she had put a few things
together in a handbag, which she had left at Craddock station by
accident, and come down. Was there anyone who could go and fetch her
handbag? It was such a nuisance; she laid it down for a moment to get at
her ticket--she never could find her pocket, dressmakers always hid them
in such an absurd way; could Hadria recommend any dressmaker who did not
hide pockets? Wasn't it tiresome? She had no time-table, and so she had
gone to the station that morning and waited till a Craddock train
started, and by this arrangement it had come to pass that she had spent
an hour and a half on the platform: she did not think she ever had such
an unpleasant time; why didn't they have trains oftener? They did to
Putney.
Mrs. Temperley sat down and laughed. Whereupon the other's face
lightened and she joined in the laugh at her own expense, settling into
the easy chair that her hostess had prepared for her, with a gesture of
helplessness and comfort.
"Well, in spite of that time at the station, I'm glad I came. It seems
so long since I have seen you, dear Hadria, and the last time you know
you were very unhappy, almost mad----"
"Yes, yes; never mind about that," interposed Mrs. Temperley hastily,
setting her teeth together.
"You take things too hard, too hard," said Miss Du Prel. "I used to
think _I_ was bad in that way, but I am phlegmatic compared with you.
One would suppose that----"
"Valeria, don't, don't, don't," cried Mrs. Temperley. "I can't stand
it." Her teeth were still set tight and hard, her hands were clenched.
"Very well, very well. Tell me what you have been making of this
ridiculous old world, where everything goes wrong and everybody is
stupid or wicked, or both."
Mrs. Temperley's face relaxed a little, though the signs of some strong
emotion were still visible.
"Well, to answer the general by the particular, I have spent the
morning, accompanied by a nice young brood of Cochin-China fowls, in
Craddock churchyard."
"Oh, I hate a churchyard," exclaimed Miss Du Prel, with a shudder. "It
makes one think of the hideous mockery of life, and the more one would
like to die, the worse seems the brutality of death and his hideous
accompaniments. It is such a savage denial of all human aspirations and
affections and hopes. Ah, it is horrible!" The sharply-outlined face
grew haggard and white, as its owner crouched over the fire.
"Heaven knows! but it was very serene and very lovely up there this
morning."
"Ah!" exclaimed Valeria with a burst of strange enthusiasm and sadness,
that revealed all the fire and yearning and power that had raised her
above her fellows in the scale of consciousness, with the penalty of a
life of solitude and of sorrow.
"Surely it is not without meaning that the places of the dead are the
serenest spots on earth," said Mrs. Temperley. "If I could keep myself
in the mood that the place induces, I think I should not mind anything
very much any more. The sunshine seems to rest more tenderly there than
elsewhere, and the winds have a reverence for the graves, as if they
felt it time that the dead were left in peace--the 'happier dead,' as
poor immortal Tithonius calls them, who has not the gift of death. And
the grey old tower and the weather stains on the stones; there is a
conspiracy of beauty in the place, that holds one as one is held by
music."
"Ah! I know the magic of these things; it tempts one to believe at times
that Nature is _not_ all blind and unpitying. But that is a delusion: if
there were any pity in Nature, the human spirit would not be dowered
with such infinite and terrible longings and such capacities and dreams
and prayers and then--then insulted with the mockery of death and
annihilation."
"If there should be no Beyond," muttered Mrs. Temperley.
"That to me is inconceivable. When we die we fall into an eternal sleep.
Moreover, I can see no creed that does not add the fear of future
torments to the certainties of these."
Mrs. Temperley was seized with a bitter mood. "You should cultivate
faith," she said; "it acts the part of the heading 'Sundries omitted' in
one's weekly accounts; one can put down under it everything that can't
be understood--but you don't keep weekly accounts, so it's no use
pointing out to you the peace that comes of that device."
The entrance of Sophia with firewood turned the current of conversation.
"Good heavens! I don't think we have anything for lunch!" Mrs. Temperley
exclaimed. "Are you very hungry? What is to be done? It was the
faithlessness of our butcher that disturbed the serenity of my mood this
morning. Perhaps the poor beast whose carcase we were intending to
devour will feel serene instead of me: but, alas! I fear he has been
slaughtered _quand même_. That is one of the unsatisfactory things about
life: that all its worst miseries bring good to no one. One may deny
oneself, but not a living thing is necessarily the better for
it--generally many are the worse. The wheels of pain go turning day by
day, and the gods stand aloof--they will not help us, nor will they stay
the 'wild world' in its course. No, no," added Mrs. Temperley with a
laugh, "I am not tired of life, but I am tired _with_ it; it won't give
me what I want. That is perhaps because I want so much."
The sound of male footsteps in the hall broke up the colloquy.
"Good heavens! Hubert has brought home a crowd of people to lunch,"
exclaimed Hadria, "a thing he scarcely ever does. What fatality can have
induced him to choose to-day of all others for this orgy of
hospitality?"
"Does the day matter?" enquired Valeria, astonished at so much emotion.
"_Does the day matter!_ Oh irresponsible question of the unwedded! When
I tell you the butcher has not sent the meat."
"Oh ... can't one eat fish?" suggested Miss Du Prel.
Hadria laughed and opened the door.
"My dear, I have brought Fleming home to lunch."
"Thank heaven, _only one!_"
Temperley stared.
"I could not conveniently have brought home several," he said.
"I thought you would be at least seven," cried the mistress of the
house, "and with all the pertinacity of Wordsworth's little girl."
"What _do_ you mean, if one may ask for simple English?"
"Merely that that intolerable Sanders has broken his word--_hinc illæ
lacrimæ_."
Hubert Temperley turned away in annoyance. He used to be amused by his
wife's flippancy before her marriage, but he had long since grown to
dislike it. He retired to get out some wine, while Hadria went forward
to welcome the guest, who now came in from the garden, where he had
lingered to talk to the children.
"I am delighted to see you, Mr. Fleming; but I am grieved to say that we
have unluckily only a wretched luncheon to give you, and after your long
walk over the fields too! I am _so_ sorry. The fact is we are left, this
morning, with a gaping larder, at the mercy of a haughty and inconstant
butcher, who grinds down his helpless dependents without mercy,
overbearing creature that he is! We must ask you to be very tolerant."
"Oh! please don't trouble about that; it doesn't matter in the least,"
cried Mr. Fleming, pulling at his yellowish whiskers. He was a man of
about five-and-thirty, of medium height, dressed in knickerbockers and
Norfolk jacket that had seen some service.
"What is the difficulty?" asked Hubert.
"I was explaining to Mr. Fleming how inhospitably we are forced to treat
him, on account of that traitor Sanders."
Hubert gave a gesture of annoyance.
"I suppose there is something cold in the house."
"Pudding, perhaps," said his wife hopelessly. "It is most unlucky."
"My dear, surely there must be something cold that isn't pudding."
"I fear, very little; but I will go and see the cook, though, alas! she
is not easy to inspire as regards her particular business. She is
extremely entertaining as a conversationalist, but I think she was meant
for society rather than the kitchen. I am sure society would be more
diverting if she were in it."
Hadria was just turning to seek this misplaced genius, when she paused
in the doorway.
"By the way, I suppose Sapphira has----"
"Do try and cure yourself of the habit of calling the girl by that
absurd name, Hadria."
"Oh, yes; but the name is so descriptive. She has told you of Miss Du
Prel's arrival?"
"She has told me nothing of the sort."
Temperley did not look overjoyed. There had never been much cordiality
between him and Valeria since the afternoon when they had met at
Dunaghee, and found their sentiments in hopeless opposition.
Miss Du Prel took no interest in Hubert, though she admired his
character. She had every wish to make herself agreeable to him, but her
efforts in that direction were somewhat neutralized by an incurable
absence of mind. If she was not interested, as Hadria said, she was
seldom affable.
Possibly Hubert's request to her, years ago at Dunaghee, to "think for a
moment" had not been forgiven.
"Where is she? Oh!----"
The exclamation was in consequence of Miss Du Prel's appearing at the
door of the library, whence she surveyed the group with absent-minded
intentness.
Valeria woke up with a start, and responded to Hubert's greeting in an
erratic fashion, replying tragically, to a casual enquiry as to her
health, that she had been _frightfully_ ill.
"I thought I was dying. But one never dies," she added in a disgusted
tone, whereat Hadria heartlessly laughed, and hurried the visitor
upstairs to help her to unpack.
"Valeria," said Mrs. Temperley, while that lady was confusedly trying to
disentangle hat and hair, hat-pin and head, without involving the entire
system in a common ruin--"Valeria, we are not a remarkable people at
Craddock Dene. We may be worthy, we may have our good points, but we are
not brilliant (except the cook). Should Mr. Fleming fail to impress you
as a person of striking personality, I ask you, as a favour, _not_ to
emblazon that impression on every feature: should he address to you a
remark that you do not find interesting, and it is quite conceivable
that he may--do not glare at him scornfully for a moment, and----"
Hadria was not allowed to finish the sentence.
"As if I ever did any such thing--and people are so dull," said Miss Du
Prel.
A few "curried details," as the hostess dejectedly described the fare,
had been supplemented with vegetables, fruit, and impromptu preparations
of eggs, and the luncheon was pronounced excellent and ample.
Miss Du Prel said that she hoped the butcher would always forget to send
the meat. She liked these imaginative meals.
Temperley purposely misunderstood her to say "imaginary meals," and
hoped that next time she came, Hadria would not have an oratorio in
course of composition. Miss Du Prel expressed a fiery interest in the
oratorio.
"I judge the presence of oratorio by the absence of food," Temperley
explained suavely.
Hadria watched the encounter with a mingled sense of amusement and
discomfort.
Valeria was in no danger. To be morally crushed by an adversary, it is
necessary that one should be at least aware that the adversary is
engaged in crushing one: a consciousness that was plainly denied to Miss
Du Prel. Many a man far less able than Hubert had power to interest her,
while he could not even hold her attention. She used to complain to
Professor Fortescue that Temperley's ideas never seemed to have
originated in his own brain: they had been imported ready-made. Hubert
was among the many who shrink and harden into mental furrows as time
passes. What he had thought at twenty, at thirty-five had acquired
sanctity and certainty, from having been the opinion of Hubert Temperley
for all those favoured years. He had no suspicion that the views which
he cherished in so dainty and scholarly a fashion were simply an
_edition de luxe_ of the views of everybody else. But his wife had made
that discovery long ago. He smiled at the views of everybody else: his
own were put forth as something choice and superior. He had the happy
knack of being _bourgeois_ with the air of an artist. If one could
picture one's grocer weighing out sugar in a Spanish cloak and brigand's
hat, it would afford an excellent symbol of his spiritual estate. To be
perfectly commonplace in a brilliantly original way, is to be notable
after all.
Mr. Fleming seemed puzzled by Miss Du Prel, at whom he glanced uneasily
from time to time, wondering what she would say next. At Craddock Dene,
ladies usually listened with a more or less breathless deference when
Temperley spoke. This new-comer seemed recklessly independent.
Mrs. Temperley endeavoured to lead the conversation in ways of peace,
but Valeria was evidently on the war-path. Temperley was polite and
ironical, with under-meanings for Hadria's benefit.
"If one asks impossible things of life, one is apt to be disappointed, I
fear," he said serenely. "Ask for the possible and natural harvest of a
woman's career, and see if you don't get it."
"Let a canary plead for its cage, in short, and its commendable prayer
will be answered!"
"If you like to put it thus ungraciously. I should say that one who
makes the most of his opportunities, as they stand, fares better than he
who sighs for other worlds to conquer."
"I suppose that is what his relatives said to Columbus," observed Miss
Du Prel.
"And how do you know they were not right?" he retorted.
Mrs. Temperley gave the signal to rise. "Let's go for a walk," she
suggested, "the afternoon invites us. Look at it."
The brilliant sunshine and the exercise brought about a more genial
mood. Only once was there anything approaching friction, and then it was
Hadria herself who caused it.
"Yes, we all flatter ourselves that we are observing life, when we are
merely noting the occasions when some musty old notion of ours happens,
by chance, to get fulfilled."
Hubert Temperley at once roused Miss Du Prel's interest by the large
stores of information that he had to pour forth on the history of the
district, from its earliest times to the present. He recalled the days
when these lands that looked so smooth and tended had been mere wastes
of marsh and forest.
How quickly these great changes were accomplished! Valeria stood on the
brow of a wide corn-field, looking out over the sleeping country. A
century, after all, was not much more than one person's lifetime, yet in
scarcely nine of these--nine little troubled lifetimes--what incredible
things had occurred in this island of ours! How did it all come about?
"Not assuredly," Valeria remarked with sudden malice, "by taking things
as they stood, and making the best of them with imbecile impatience. If
everyone had done that, what sort of an England should I have had
stretching before my eyes at this moment?"
"You would not have been here to see," said Hadria, lazily rolling
stones down the hill with her foot. "We should all of us have been
dancing round some huge log-fire on the borders of a primeval forest,
and instead of browsing on salads, as we did to-day, we should be
sustaining ourselves on the unholy nourishment of boiled parent or
grilled aunt."
Mr. Temperley's refined appearance and manner seemed to raise an
incarnate protest against this revolting picture. For some occult
reason, the imagination of all was at work especially and exclusively on
the figure of that polished gentleman in war-paint and feathers,
sporting round the cauldron that contained the boiled earthly remains of
his relations.
Mr. Fleming betrayed the common thought by remarking that it would be
very becoming to him.
"Ah! I wish we _were_ all savages in feathers and war-paint, dancing on
the edge of some wild forest, with nothing but the sea and the sky for
limits!"
Miss Du Prel surprised her audience by this earnest aspiration.
"Do you feel inclined to revert?" Hadria enquired. "Because if so, I
shall be glad to join you."
"I think there _is_ a slight touch of the savage about Mrs. Temperley,"
observed Fleming pensively. "I mean, don't you know--of course----."
"You are quite right!" cried Valeria. "I have often noticed a sort of
wildness that crops up now and then through a very smooth surface.
Hadria may sigh for the woodlands, yet----!"